• Najah Elmounedi, Olfa Jedli, Walid Bahloul, Khaled Keskes, Nizar Sahnoun, Oussema Abdelhedi, Zoubaier Ellouz, and Hassib Keskes.
• Cell therapy and experimental surgery of musculoskeletal system LR18SP11 Lab, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: najah.mounedi12@gmail.com.
• World Neurosurg. 2024 Sep 1; 189: e912e920e912-e920.

BackgroundAmong the causes of the progression of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration (IDD) is the loss of nutrient intake to the IVD through the microcirculation disruption of the subendplate. Also, the vertebral body fracture intervenes in the degeneration the adjacent IVD. This research aimed to create an animal model of IDD using these 2 strategies.MethodsThirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were split into 3 groups: a control group, a middle vertebral body injury (MI) associated with ethanol injection (MI + EtOH) group, and an MI associated with phosphate-buffered saline injection group. A vertebral body fracture with or without endplate injection of ethanol was generated by either drilling a hole in the center of a caudal rat vertebral body to form a fracture with an unabated endplate or drilling a hole in the center of a rat coccygeal vertebral body with endplate injection of ethanol to establish a vertebral body fracture with endplate damage. X-ray, macroscopic, histologic, and biochemical evaluations were utilized to assess IDD at weeks 3 and 6.ResultsAccording to X-ray findings, the MI + EtOH group demonstrated a significant decrease in intervertebral space height over time in comparison to the 2 other groups. The water content also was significantly decreased. Macroscopic and histological analysis demonstrated progressive degenerative changes in the IVD of the MI + EtOH group.ConclusionsThe caudal vertebra fracture with ethanol injection is more likely to induce degeneration of adjacent IVD. This model effectively reproduced IDD, which may serve as a theoretical basis for future clinical intervention for IDD.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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